This invention relates generally to a graphic user interface and more particular to a graphic user interface for use with a multi-recording medium integrated player, including CD-ROM discs, DVD and DVD-R media, but most preferably audio compact discs (CDs). While multi-disc CD players have been available for quite some time, these players include only an extremely limited interface providing a user with little, if any information regarding the CDs contained therein. Thus, the user may not even be able to tell which CDs are retained within the player. It is apparent that this limited user interface for contact between the apparatus and the user has been insufficient.
The insufficient user interface poses an increasing problem as the number of discs which may be stored in a multi-disc player increases. Generally, multi-disc CD players include a plurality of CDs retained within the player hidden from view. The number of CDs can be any number up to 200 CDs or more. However, since a user cannot view the CDs, the user cannot be sure which CDs are positioned within the player or at which location within a player a particular CD is positioned. If the user wishes to play a particular CD, it may be very difficult or time consuming for a user to select that particular CD out of the plurality of CDs in the player.
In order to remedy this problem, more advanced multi-disc CD players have allowed a user to enter a small number of characters to be associated with a particular CD. For example, the user inserts the CD into the player and then operates selector keys to select a sequence of characters, perhaps a title, to be associated with the CD. These characters are retained in memory with the code of the CD. Thus, anytime the CD is placed within the CD player, or selected to be played, the associated characters are displayed. While this ability is an improvement, the user is required to enter the character information to be associated with each CD, and the information displayed is very minimal. Also, typically the user can only view the displayed information when a CD is selected to be played. Thus the viewing of the information is very slow, and does not allow for viewing information related to additional CDs when a first CD is playing.
Recently, new CDs may include additional text information, known as "CD text" regarding the title and contents of the CD, which can be read and displayed by the CD player. Thus, a limited amount of information can be retrieved by the CD player from the CD and displayed to the user. However, most CDs do not have this information included thereon. Additionally, typical CD-ROM players contain a very limited display which would be insufficient to display any more than only an extremely minimal amount of information regarding each of these CDs. Finally, even if this information is available, it must be fixed at the time the CD is produced, and thus cannot be updated or augmented, if desired.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an enhanced, improved graphic user interface for displaying information about a particular CD in a CD player, for obtaining information about a CD in the CD player if the information is not contained on the CD, for obtaining additional, updated information regarding each CD contained within the CD player and for allowing additional advance functions to be accessed by the user.